


(not a game of) Telephone

by sketchbook henry (bessemerprocess)



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Jossed, Other, Threesome - F/F/M, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 03:36:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3594885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/pseuds/sketchbook%20henry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rumors say that Rachel Berry and Jesse St. James met at a RENT revival. That they hated each other at first, fell in love with each other second and then went back to hating each other after that.</p><p>The rumors are wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(not a game of) Telephone

**Author's Note:**

> As Glee is now a closed canon, and one I no longer write in, I'm uploading story chunks that can stand on their own. Originally written June 2010.

There are rumors.

Of course there are rumors.

The rumors say that Rachel Berry and Jesse St. James met at a RENT revival. That they hated each other at first, fell in love with each other second and then went back to hating each other after that.

The rumors are wrong.

***

Jesse runs into Rachel, literally, on the first day.

"St. James," she scowls at him as she picks her self up off the stage. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm Mark," he says with a grin.

"You're Mark? I'm Maureen," she says and then exits, stage left.

"Well, at least the chemistry will be right," Jesse says to himself.

***

No one thinks anything when both Rachel and Jesse disappear after the first show. Everyone knows that they hate each other, even if neither will reveal why. Besides, they'd rocked the show and the champagne is flowing and the after party is a mob scene. No one really even notices.

Well, at least until Ana Czerny walks into Rachel's dressing room to find them going at it like there is no tomorrow. Ana, being Ana, announces it to the entire cast at the top of her considerable voice. Someone takes a picture, by morning the whole crew has seen it, by afternoon its on the internet, and by the next morning Jesse and Rachel are back to sniping at each other and glaring over their morning coffee.

***

Rachel pushes Jesse out of bed and he rolls to the floor with a thump.

"Hey! What was that for?" Jesse says sitting on the floor, rubbing his eyes.

"You're going to be late," she says

"No one cares," Jesse says. It's a well worn argument. "Just drive me over."

"I care, and no."

"Rachel Berry, it's a good thing I love you or I'd sell us out to the gossip columnists," he says.

"Love you, too," she calls, already halfway into the shower.

Jesse sighs, grabs his keys, and hopes traffic isn't too bad so he won't miss all of their first round of insulting each over coffee at rehearsal. He rather enjoys it when Rachel glares at him these days.

***

The rumors say Jesse St. James is fucking Anton Chernov.

Of course, the rumors also say that Rachel Berry is fucking Anton Chernov.

The rumors are wrong. Jesse St. James and Rachel Berry are both fucking Anton Chernov.

It's one of the few things they've always agreed on: talent is sexy.

What's the point of fucking someone who can't sing for you? Or worse, someone who won't sing for you?

They've been sharing the brightest up and coming Broadway talent since the curtain went down on RENT. Including each other.

***

Rachel wakes up to something that smells amazing, and stumbles out to the kitchen.

Jesse is cooking breakfast. "Fake bacon!" he says when she stares at the pan a moment too long, like Jesse might've forgotten how she feels about meat. He presses a cup of coffee into her hands. "Anton's on the couch, go join him until the caffeine kicks in."

She takes the coffee gratefully, and curls into Anton on the couch. He’s humming then end of act one from _The Fairy Prince_ and he’s warm, and when Jesse joins them, it’s like the world is perfect.

***

Anton goes back home, goes back to college, and ends up being one of the top neurosurgeons in the United States by the time he’s forty.

Jesse and Rachel end up taking home the girl playing _Swan Lake’s_ Odette, the night after her first performance. Alexis is a bit star-struck at first, but she slips in between them like she was born to it.

***

The rumors say Jesse St. James and Rachel Berry are the power couple of Broadway. That there is nothing that could come between them. Not a role, or a review, or person. 

That part is true, the only thing that ever came between Jesse St. James and Rachel Berry is themselves. _Egos, money, Hollywood and sleaze_ the song goes. The song is right. 

***

They have a screaming fight on a Tuesday night. Jesse is in Hollywood filming an adaptation of some bestseller, and Rachel is headlining the revival of _Annie Get Your Gun_. 

“The only thing you ever cared about was you!”

“Pot meet kettle!”

It doesn't really matter which one of them is yelling which, they've both said everything before.

This time, though, Jesse stays in L.A. and Rachel doesn't visit. They don’t go to the _Spring Awakening_ revival, and they don’t invite anyone of the cast home with them. There are no eggs, no fist fights at prom, no heartfelt duets. They just stop picking up the phone to yell at one another, and soon enough there isn't anything to say at all.


End file.
